Finding My Dance
Finding My Dance
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Follow Ria Thundercloud as she shares her journey to become a professional Indigenous dancer and take pride in her Indigenous heritage.
Themes: Identity fulfillment, achievements, heritage/tradition
Photo Source: LeRoy Grafe
About the Author and Honored Guest
About the Author and Honored Guest
Ria Thundercloud (she/her) is from the Ho-Chunk Nation and Sandia Pueblo. She holds strong ties to her kinship in the Southwest and North, practicing both styles of traditional dance. She started training in classical dance at the age of thirteen, went professional at sixteen, and has traveled internationally as a cultural ambassador and professional dancer. Ria is a 2019 graduate from the Institute of American Indian Arts in Indigenous Liberal Studies and is a holistic yoga teacher from the Healing Lotus Center. Her art is influenced by the women who came before her, reclaiming stories of matriarchs that highlight the resilience and knowledge of Indigenous women. --Bio taken from Penguin Random House
About the Illustrator
About the Illustrator
Kalila (Huh-LEE-luh) J. Fuller is an illustrator born and raised in Portland, OR. She graduated from the Pacific Northwest College of Art with a BFA in Illustration in 2019. Her style focuses on graphic shapes combined with rough details. Her personal portfolio centers on themes surrounding civil and social inequality within the United States, her heritage, and her childhood experiences growing up in Oregon. Kalila's early art was traditionally based in drawing and oil painting. Her current work is primarily digital with analog mixed media. She loves dogs, watching cartoons, and drinking chai lattes. --Bio taken from Fuller's website
Photo Source: PNCA Website
Discussion Questions
Discussion Questions
Ria Thundercloud discusses how dance was and is a form of expression for herself. Are there any “non-traditional” ways you express yourself?
Thundercloud experienced feeling like an outsider in many environments of her life. Have you ever felt like an outsider? How did you navigate that?
Thundercloud discusses how she struggled balancing the rigid rules of traditional dance with more freeform interpretations. Has there ever been a time you’ve had to find the balance between two opposing forces?
Photo Source: Finding My Dance
Learning Activities
Learning Activities
Photo Source: Finding My Dance
Looking through the book are there any details you can pick up of Thundercloud’s culture and identity?
How do you think Ria Thundercloud's culture and identity influenced her experience not only with dance, but with the wider world?
Research the different dances that Thundercloud mentions. Compare and contrast their similarities and differences.
Explore More
Explore More
Learn more about the tradition of the jingle dress in this interview with Brenda Child from the University of Minnesota.
Watch this jingle dress dance performance from a 2023 Powwow.
Watch Ria Thundercloud perform her Eagle Dance in honor of Secretary Deb Haaland.
Watch Ria Thundercloud read aloud her book in this video to the left.
Do you want to learn even more words in Ojibwe? Visit the Ojibwe People’s Dictionary online!
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